YodaTuna:MyrnaMinkoff: I grew up in rural Oklahoma. I'm here visiting again. Many of my Facebook friends are from this region. Judging by my feed, you'd think this is the only new story of note from the last several months."Real" America is depressing, but absolutely not surprising. One of them posted about boycotting Cracker Barrel since they pulled merchandise, and then complained but the food is "too expensive" anyway. Jesus Christ.

If a major decision in your life is that you have decided you no longer want to eat at Cracker Barrel, you may want to re-evaluate your worldview.

This is very much likely. It would most likely be done by the supporters of Pat Robertson and the trademark holder (A&E) earning most of the proceedings.

/the lulz in this one would be epic if that really happens

Sort of like the Chik-FIl-A day.

If I recalled correctly, on Chik-Fil-A day, people lined up to buy their sandwiches. Unless they are franchises where the trademark holders does not get a portion of the total sale, I am not sure how they compare.

What? It's really simple.

Chik Fil A makes a statement. People express displeasure. REAL MURKIANS go "DOn't you silence religion!" and swarm in flocks to buy their crap.

YodaTuna:MyrnaMinkoff: I grew up in rural Oklahoma. I'm here visiting again. Many of my Facebook friends are from this region. Judging by my feed, you'd think this is the only new story of note from the last several months."Real" America is depressing, but absolutely not surprising. One of them posted about boycotting Cracker Barrel since they pulled merchandise, and then complained but the food is "too expensive" anyway. Jesus Christ.

If a major decision in your life is that you have decided you no longer want to eat at Cracker Barrel, you may want to re-evaluate your worldview.

Have you ever tried their country ham or biscuits and gravy? Cause I'm just saying, giving that up would be a major life decision for me.

UNC_Samurai:And what happens as a result of these controversial remarks? A&E gets a bit of a novelty ratings bump, a handful of merchandise will get sold because of the outrage-industrial-complex stoking conservative ire into a backlash, the dude who said the stupid shiat will get a handful of lucrative speaking engagements from people who sort of agree with things he says (hell, he's likely to end up as a Guest of Honor at CPAC).

Nobody gets poorer as a result of this incident.

You missed a key part of the article:

This is Ian Bayne. He says the "Duck Dynasty" patriarch is the Rosa Parks of our generation. (Via IanBayne.com)

In a fundraising email to supporters, he wrote:

"In December 1955, Rosa Parks took a stand against an unjust societal persecution of black people, and in December 2013, Robertson took a stand against persecution of Christians .... What Parks did was courageous, What Mr. Robertson did was courageous too."

glmorrs1:YodaTuna: MyrnaMinkoff: I grew up in rural Oklahoma. I'm here visiting again. Many of my Facebook friends are from this region. Judging by my feed, you'd think this is the only new story of note from the last several months."Real" America is depressing, but absolutely not surprising. One of them posted about boycotting Cracker Barrel since they pulled merchandise, and then complained but the food is "too expensive" anyway. Jesus Christ.

If a major decision in your life is that you have decided you no longer want to eat at Cracker Barrel, you may want to re-evaluate your worldview.

Have you ever tried their country ham or biscuits and gravy? Cause I'm just saying, giving that up would be a major life decision for me.

So, the 3 seasons of him ending every episode by saying grace ("in Jesus' name we pray"), is that the "silencing Christianity" part; or is it only once he started spewing the Gospel According to Saint Bastard that A&E was silencing the One True Faith?

I love the fact that the "National Council for Freedom and Enterprise" wants to force a business to employ someone on political grounds, someone who potentially hurts that company's business. FREE MARKET SOLUTIONS!

This is very much likely. It would most likely be done by the supporters of Pat Robertson and the trademark holder (A&E) earning most of the proceedings.

/the lulz in this one would be epic if that really happens

Sort of like the Chik-FIl-A day.

If I recalled correctly, on Chik-Fil-A day, people lined up to buy their sandwiches. Unless they are franchises where the trademark holders does not get a portion of the total sale, I am not sure how they compare.

What? It's really simple.

Chik Fil A makes a statement. People express displeasure. REAL MURKIANS go "DOn't you silence religion!" and swarm in flocks to buy their crap.

I'm sure no one is going to argue that a minority can't oppress a majority, but do you really think Christians are oppressed in the United States?

There is a minority of Christianity that is oppressed. You see, when you prevent them from controlling your life and interrupt their 'do as I say, not as I do' attempts to subjugate your free will, you're oppressing them. Americans are promised life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and they won't be happy until everyone is as equally miserable as them. It's like a spiritual Harrison Bergeron.

MyrnaMinkoff:glmorrs1: YodaTuna: MyrnaMinkoff: I grew up in rural Oklahoma. I'm here visiting again. Many of my Facebook friends are from this region. Judging by my feed, you'd think this is the only new story of note from the last several months."Real" America is depressing, but absolutely not surprising. One of them posted about boycotting Cracker Barrel since they pulled merchandise, and then complained but the food is "too expensive" anyway. Jesus Christ.

If a major decision in your life is that you have decided you no longer want to eat at Cracker Barrel, you may want to re-evaluate your worldview.

Have you ever tried their country ham or biscuits and gravy? Cause I'm just saying, giving that up would be a major life decision for me.

/I sound fat

HASH BROWN CASSEROLE. But still, arteries.

Been to Cracker Barrel exactly one time. I do never intend to revisit.

Saw this was on the AJC website and was worried until I found out that the moron is from Illinois.

BTW, A&E knew of his beliefs when they hired him. It is hard for them to have any credible outrage this far into it. I wonder how many GLBT's actually watch the show. I would bet that they were/are big in the bear community.

I love the fact that the "National Council for Freedom and Enterprise" wants to force a business to employ someone on political grounds, someone who potentially hurts that company's business. FREE MARKET SOLUTIONS!

WQait...just wait...then they'll turn around and say that we should force people to ONLY buy from conservatives...because jeebus.

tripleseven:MyrnaMinkoff: glmorrs1: YodaTuna: MyrnaMinkoff: I grew up in rural Oklahoma. I'm here visiting again. Many of my Facebook friends are from this region. Judging by my feed, you'd think this is the only new story of note from the last several months."Real" America is depressing, but absolutely not surprising. One of them posted about boycotting Cracker Barrel since they pulled merchandise, and then complained but the food is "too expensive" anyway. Jesus Christ.

If a major decision in your life is that you have decided you no longer want to eat at Cracker Barrel, you may want to re-evaluate your worldview.

Have you ever tried their country ham or biscuits and gravy? Cause I'm just saying, giving that up would be a major life decision for me.

/I sound fat

HASH BROWN CASSEROLE. But still, arteries.

Been to Cracker Barrel exactly one time. I do never intend to revisit.

Garbage, on a plate.

I haven't eaten there in probably five years, but I remember that their hashbrown casserole and country ham were my jam. Salty garbage, perhaps, but my jam.

So, the 3 seasons of him ending every episode by saying grace ("in Jesus' name we pray"), is that the "silencing Christianity" part; or is it only once he started spewing the Gospel According to Saint Bastard that A&E was silencing the One True Faith?

Whodat:Saw this was on the AJC website and was worried until I found out that the moron is from Illinois.

BTW, A&E knew of his beliefs when they hired him. It is hard for them to have any credible outrage this far into it. I wonder how many GLBT's actually watch the show. I would bet that they were/are big in the bear community.

It's not so much that. You are welcome to have beliefs, but when you start expressing them, and that causes a PR problem, then it's a problem. A&E isn't OUTRAGED, they're doing damage control.

UNC_Samurai:glmorrs1: jjorsett: The guy not only thought impermissible thoughts, he uttered them out loud. Where others could hear. We can't have that.

They're not impermissible, they're just backwards, ignorant, and bigoted. He has the right to voice his opinion on this all day every day. And we, and his bosses at A&E, have the right to criticize and naysay his dumbass. See, the first amendment doesn't protect you from criticism, just from being jailed or penalized by the state for what you say.

Now, as I understand it, this may have been impermissible in Canada under their hate speech laws.

/IANAL/Especially in Canada

It's a shame there's no efficient way to look up a troll's posting history, because I'd love to parse all the Dixie Chick threads from a decade ago and see what the chump had to say then.

We'd just have more alts.

Though the practice of Alt-making seems to have waned, I suspect because the site has gotten more popular. With a large enough mass of people to hide in and you don't need to change your name to always have someone who missed or forgot about your epic threadshiatting 2 weeks ago.

MyrnaMinkoff:glmorrs1: YodaTuna: MyrnaMinkoff: I grew up in rural Oklahoma. I'm here visiting again. Many of my Facebook friends are from this region. Judging by my feed, you'd think this is the only new story of note from the last several months."Real" America is depressing, but absolutely not surprising. One of them posted about boycotting Cracker Barrel since they pulled merchandise, and then complained but the food is "too expensive" anyway. Jesus Christ.

If a major decision in your life is that you have decided you no longer want to eat at Cracker Barrel, you may want to re-evaluate your worldview.

Have you ever tried their country ham or biscuits and gravy? Cause I'm just saying, giving that up would be a major life decision for me.

/I sound fat

HASH BROWN CASSEROLE. But still, arteries.

Ugh, their gravy is awful. The whole point of decent sausage gravy is that you sop it up with your biscuit, then eat them together. Cracker Barrel's gravy just sits there on top of the biscuit like mayo on a ritz cracker, or that embarrassing dinty-moore-beef-stew crap your dog just took on your mother-in-law's new hardwood floors.

MyrnaMinkoff:tripleseven: MyrnaMinkoff: glmorrs1: YodaTuna: MyrnaMinkoff: I grew up in rural Oklahoma. I'm here visiting again. Many of my Facebook friends are from this region. Judging by my feed, you'd think this is the only new story of note from the last several months."Real" America is depressing, but absolutely not surprising. One of them posted about boycotting Cracker Barrel since they pulled merchandise, and then complained but the food is "too expensive" anyway. Jesus Christ.

If a major decision in your life is that you have decided you no longer want to eat at Cracker Barrel, you may want to re-evaluate your worldview.

Have you ever tried their country ham or biscuits and gravy? Cause I'm just saying, giving that up would be a major life decision for me.

/I sound fat

HASH BROWN CASSEROLE. But still, arteries.

Been to Cracker Barrel exactly one time. I do never intend to revisit.

Garbage, on a plate.

I haven't eaten there in probably five years, but I remember that their hashbrown casserole and country ham were my jam. Salty garbage, perhaps, but my jam.

Cracker Barrel is my mom's favorite restaurant. I generally don't care for their dinner options - I'm more a TexMex or drippy cheesy sandwich and fries person - but the quality of the food is good enough. Also love the fireplace in the winter.

Whodat:Saw this was on the AJC website and was worried until I found out that the moron is from Illinois.

BTW, A&E knew of his beliefs when they hired him. It is hard for them to have any credible outrage this far into it. I wonder how many GLBT's actually watch the show. I would bet that they were/are big in the bear community.

You can know that someone is against homosexuality in principle, and still think that they might not give a lengthy interview in an international magazine talking about vaginas, anuses, and the joy of pre-civil rights blacks in the south. I'm with A&E here.

Further, the A&E brand is bigger than one channel. I guarantee you plenty of gays, lesbians, or allies watch, for instance, Lifetime. Perhaps after review keeping that audience is worth more than a few million "real Americans."

mayIFark:OK, sure. The difference would be that, in the case of DD, they actually make the party they are opposing richer.

I think that's just starting to strike some of these folks. Maybe there's a FW:FW:FW: e-mail enlightening them.

Last night, I went to the Large Corporate Grocery/Household Goods store in my Redneck Oregon mountain town.

In the last couple of days, the store moved all of its DD merchandise to a massive display right inside the front door (up until that point, I thought the DD chia pets were photoshopped jokes -- who knew?).

The shelves were about half-empty. Two couples who didn't appear to know each other were having a heated argument in front of the display.

One couple had about a 1/2-basketful of DD merchandise. The man from the other couple was yelling at him, saying the money went to A&E, so he shouldn't be supporting them. The buyer responded that Phil's family gets the money, too, and that buy wearing the apparel people will know that you stand in support of Phil. The wives just gave each other nasty looks.

As the fight raged, people nervously inspected the goods and occasionally took one from the shelves sheepishly and put it in their basket.

palelizard:MyrnaMinkoff: glmorrs1: YodaTuna: MyrnaMinkoff: I grew up in rural Oklahoma. I'm here visiting again. Many of my Facebook friends are from this region. Judging by my feed, you'd think this is the only new story of note from the last several months."Real" America is depressing, but absolutely not surprising. One of them posted about boycotting Cracker Barrel since they pulled merchandise, and then complained but the food is "too expensive" anyway. Jesus Christ.

If a major decision in your life is that you have decided you no longer want to eat at Cracker Barrel, you may want to re-evaluate your worldview.

Have you ever tried their country ham or biscuits and gravy? Cause I'm just saying, giving that up would be a major life decision for me.

/I sound fat

HASH BROWN CASSEROLE. But still, arteries.

Ugh, their gravy is awful. The whole point of decent sausage gravy is that you sop it up with your biscuit, then eat them together. Cracker Barrel's gravy just sits there on top of the biscuit like mayo on a ritz cracker, or that embarrassing dinty-moore-beef-stew crap your dog just took on your mother-in-law's new hardwood floors.

I wouldn't know, because I will never eat the culinary abomination that is white gravy. From anywhere.

Someone's going to have to explain that to me, then. When he is literally following his Bible - saying grace before meals, praying in his prophet's name, etc - A&E had no problems. Only when he went "off-book" did they object, and he still hasn't even been fired.

// so someone tell me now how gay is the worst thing in the Bible, despite being mentioned twice - as often as the commandment that you must send away a mother bird before you may collect her eggs

Lenny_da_Hog:mayIFark: OK, sure. The difference would be that, in the case of DD, they actually make the party they are opposing richer.

I think that's just starting to strike some of these folks. Maybe there's a FW:FW:FW: e-mail enlightening them.

Last night, I went to the Large Corporate Grocery/Household Goods store in my Redneck Oregon mountain town.

In the last couple of days, the store moved all of its DD merchandise to a massive display right inside the front door (up until that point, I thought the DD chia pets were photoshopped jokes -- who knew?).

The shelves were about half-empty. Two couples who didn't appear to know each other were having a heated argument in front of the display.

One couple had about a 1/2-basketful of DD merchandise. The man from the other couple was yelling at him, saying the money went to A&E, so he shouldn't be supporting them. The buyer responded that Phil's family gets the money, too, and that buy wearing the apparel people will know that you stand in support of Phil. The wives just gave each other nasty looks.

As the fight raged, people nervously inspected the goods and occasionally took one from the shelves sheepishly and put it in their basket.

Yeah, and now both A&E and that bearded bigot have your money. Who actually "wins" in that situation?

MyrnaMinkoff:palelizard: MyrnaMinkoff: glmorrs1: YodaTuna: MyrnaMinkoff: I grew up in rural Oklahoma. I'm here visiting again. Many of my Facebook friends are from this region. Judging by my feed, you'd think this is the only new story of note from the last several months."Real" America is depressing, but absolutely not surprising. One of them posted about boycotting Cracker Barrel since they pulled merchandise, and then complained but the food is "too expensive" anyway. Jesus Christ.

If a major decision in your life is that you have decided you no longer want to eat at Cracker Barrel, you may want to re-evaluate your worldview.

Have you ever tried their country ham or biscuits and gravy? Cause I'm just saying, giving that up would be a major life decision for me.

/I sound fat

HASH BROWN CASSEROLE. But still, arteries.

Ugh, their gravy is awful. The whole point of decent sausage gravy is that you sop it up with your biscuit, then eat them together. Cracker Barrel's gravy just sits there on top of the biscuit like mayo on a ritz cracker, or that embarrassing dinty-moore-beef-stew crap your dog just took on your mother-in-law's new hardwood floors.

I wouldn't know, because I will never eat the culinary abomination that is white gravy. From anywhere.

Sausage gravy shouldn't be runny. Wtf.

Also, Cracker Barrel has a really good Thanksgiving dinner. We were on the road one year on Thanksgiving and stopped there for it. Excellent. Their ham is good too, and they had a crustless coconut pie or something like that that was also amazing. I think they have a spicy catfish dinner I used to love, too. Are they cheap and unhealthy? Yes. Is their food good? fark yes. For southern food, it's extremely tasty.

A Cave Geek:WQait...just wait...then they'll turn around and say that we should force people to ONLY buy from conservatives...because jeebus.

They define 'good' and 'bad' from a personal standpoint, not an absolute. The free market is good, except for oil and farm subsidies and properly taxing capital gains. Freedom of speech is good except when other people get to say things they don't like, including criticizing what they've said previously. Government handouts are bad, except when they are down on their luck and hungry.

It's not a majority of people, it's not even a majority of the right. It's just a very loud, vocal group of asshats who believe they are entitled to everything they want, no matter what it costs you. And of course, all the people who are willing to exploit that group for money and power.

Dr Dreidel:Pants full of macaroni!!: It's an actual ad that showed up on this very website.

Someone's going to have to explain that to me, then. When he is literally following his Bible - saying grace before meals, praying in his prophet's name, etc - A&E had no problems. Only when he went "off-book" did they object, and he still hasn't even been fired.

// so someone tell me now how gay is the worst thing in the Bible, despite being mentioned twice - as often as the commandment that you must send away a mother bird before you may collect her eggs

Because it's gross and there are a lot of self loathing closeted gay christians.

If we allow his comments to stand, homosexuals and blacks will be subject to the oppression of a rich redneck saying offensive things. On the other hand, if we allow him to be kicked off the show it is a clear signal that Christians must abandon their religious beliefs or face the full wrath of A&E.

Clearly the only rational path forward is to permanently ban all reality TV.

palelizard:A Cave Geek: WQait...just wait...then they'll turn around and say that we should force people to ONLY buy from conservatives...because jeebus.

They define 'good' and 'bad' from a personal standpoint, not an absolute. The free market is good, except for oil and farm subsidies and properly taxing capital gains. Freedom of speech is good except when other people get to say things they don't like, including criticizing what they've said previously. Government handouts are bad, except when they are down on their luck and hungry.

It's not a majority of people, it's not even a majority of the right. It's just a very loud, vocal group of asshats who believe they are entitled to everything they want, no matter what it costs you. And of course, all the people who are willing to exploit that group for money and power.

Governing by religion is good, as long as it's the "right" religion. Dunno how most 'muricans would welcome religion into gov't if it was like, Islam or something. I suspect they'd change their tune right quick.

tripleseven:palelizard: A Cave Geek: WQait...just wait...then they'll turn around and say that we should force people to ONLY buy from conservatives...because jeebus.

They define 'good' and 'bad' from a personal standpoint, not an absolute. The free market is good, except for oil and farm subsidies and properly taxing capital gains. Freedom of speech is good except when other people get to say things they don't like, including criticizing what they've said previously. Government handouts are bad, except when they are down on their luck and hungry.

It's not a majority of people, it's not even a majority of the right. It's just a very loud, vocal group of asshats who believe they are entitled to everything they want, no matter what it costs you. And of course, all the people who are willing to exploit that group for money and power.

Governing by religion is good, as long as it's the "right" religion. Dunno how most 'muricans would welcome religion into gov't if it was like, Islam or something. I suspect they'd change their tune right quick.

I'm a Taoist. You should see some of the head spinning when I pull that card on those who think religion should define laws.

Lenny_da_Hog:mayIFark: OK, sure. The difference would be that, in the case of DD, they actually make the party they are opposing richer.

I think that's just starting to strike some of these folks. Maybe there's a FW:FW:FW: e-mail enlightening them.

Last night, I went to the Large Corporate Grocery/Household Goods store in my Redneck Oregon mountain town.

In the last couple of days, the store moved all of its DD merchandise to a massive display right inside the front door (up until that point, I thought the DD chia pets were photoshopped jokes -- who knew?).

The shelves were about half-empty. Two couples who didn't appear to know each other were having a heated argument in front of the display.

One couple had about a 1/2-basketful of DD merchandise. The man from the other couple was yelling at him, saying the money went to A&E, so he shouldn't be supporting them. The buyer responded that Phil's family gets the money, too, and that buy wearing the apparel people will know that you stand in support of Phil. The wives just gave each other nasty looks.

As the fight raged, people nervously inspected the goods and occasionally took one from the shelves sheepishly and put it in their basket.

You did better than I. I really don't think I could have resisted the urge to ask them to their faces if they really were that proud to support ignorant, bigoted racists.

jjorsett:The guy not only thought impermissible thoughts, he uttered them out loud. Where others could hear. We can't have that.

And where were you when Martin Bashir and Alec Baldwin uttering "impermissible thoughts" out loud? Surely you were defending their right to say such naughty things without repercussions?

*crickets*

/Or, you could've gone the Sarah Palin hypocrite route...calling for Bashir's firing when he said mean things about her, then turning around and saying "Free speech is an endangered species" when someone she liked was fired for saying mean things about others.//Hey, Sarah, you wanna know why "Free speech is an endangered species"? Because you're shooting at it from a helicopter!

Duck Dynasty is an amusing show. A couple of the characters, Si and Jace, are the best of the bunch.

But watching it, you are grateful to A&E for editing out any racist or homophobic comments because you know that's part of the DNA of that bunch. The sexist stuff is OK for air, though.

We're talking about Christian Louisiana rednecks here. If there is going to be any reality to this, the rest of the family will stop doing the show in support of the old man. If they keep going this is the shark.

jjorsett:The guy not only thought impermissible thoughts, he uttered them out loud. Where others could hear. We can't have that.

No one is arresting him or sending him to a labor camp, or lynching him from a tree. He uttered some vile comments and his boss had every right to sanction him for it. If he was half the manly-man he claims to be, he'd man up and just admit that he pushed things too far.

Why are conservatives such bullies and yet they scream like stuck pigs if they encounter even the slightest bit of resistance?

And, if your religion compels you to be a butthole towards Humanity, don't expect Humanity to respect your butthole-empowering religion.

Cletus C.:Duck Dynasty is an amusing show. A couple of the characters, Si and Jace, are the best of the bunch.

But watching it, you are grateful to A&E for editing out any racist or homophobic comments because you know that's part of the DNA of that bunch. The sexist stuff is OK for air, though.

We're talking about Christian Louisiana rednecks here. If there is going to be any reality to this, the rest of the family will stop doing the show in support of the old man. If they keep going this is the shark.

Couldn't they just switch networks? You would think Fox would be willing to pick them up.

tripleseven:Governing by religion is good, as long as it's the "right" religion. Dunno how most 'muricans would welcome religion into gov't if it was like, Islam or something. I suspect they'd change their tune right quick.

The ability to extrapolate and consider such a reversal of scenarios, and then apply the resulting logic to the present situation is not highly correlated with that demographic. Despite their religious protestations, 'Do Unto Others...' is, at best, taken too literally if at all. "I'd like to be oppressed in a Christian theocracy, so I suppose I'd best get started" is too common a motivation.

There isn't a great way to root out that element from our society without compromising our own values. The best we can hope for is to commit enough public shaming and criticism they'll pack up and leave to go become somebody else's problem. Ironically, if we were to follow their style of belief, the solution would be much, much easier and more likely final.